Often
by Flowerchild96
Summary: A year after the Final Battle when things have settled down. Everyone is moving on with their lives. Hermione and Fred run into each other in Hogsmead and it sparks a friendship that has the potential to lead to much more.
1. Chapter 1

A/N So this is my first fanfic, let me know what you think of it, if you have any suggestions I am more then happy to hear them!

*I do not own any parts of Harry Potter*

Chapter 1

It had been 365 days. 365 days since the Dark Lord had fallen to the ground dead. 365 days since the wizarding world was at peace. It had been 334 days since the renovations and rebuilding had begun. Hogwarts was back to its self, with a few extra safety precautions. Diagon Alley had been put through renovations too. The store fronts now were all open and the alley was as busy as it had always been. The Ministry was back to where it should've been too, with Kingsley Shacklebolt as the new Minister for Magic most of the corruption within the Ministry had been sniffed out. All in all the wizarding world's state of affairs had been calmed down for the better.

Hermione had been in the middle of a pleasant sleep. She was dreaming of nothing. For the first time in forever, she was sleeping dreamlessly without the help of a potion. While the war had ended a year ago some people had yet to really feel peace. In her dreamless sleep she started to hear a sharp tapping. 'tap…tap…tap..tap..tap' Hermione just rolled over hoping against all hope that the tapping would go away. Her wish was granted, briefly. The tapping started up again only this time more persistent. 'taptaptaptap….taptaptaptap…taptaptap….taptaptaptap' Final the tapping began to really grate her nerves so she rolled out of bed and stumbled to the window. The tawny owl promptly flew in when she opened the window and landed on her dresser. He stuck out his foot and hooted impatiently. Hermione instantly regretted not getting up when the owl first started to tap "the poor thing must have been outside for 15 minutes" she thought. She untied the letter and the owl flew out of the window before she even had a chance to give him a treat. Still half asleep she trudged back over to her bed and flopped down. She glanced that the letter with the intent of putting on her bedside table and opening it when she woke up again in a few hours. But all thoughts of sleep flew out of the window when she spotted the Hogwarts seal on the parchment. Carefully opening the letter she started to read;

_Ms. Granger, _

_I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected from a list of over 25 candidates to be offered a teaching position at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The board of governors and I are happy to offer you the position as the Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher. Along with this position you would also become the head of the Gryffindor House and its students. These two positions would pay generously along with your own private rooms and meal plan. Please consider the offer and contact me if you have any further questions. _

_Sincerely, Headmistress McGonagall_

_Ps. Congratulations Hermione! I knew you would get the job! Can't wait to work with you this year. _

_ Minerva _

Hermione smiled to herself. During the renovations of Hogwarts her and her favorite teacher had become closer, striving to have tea together a few times a month. About two weeks ago when they had met for tea Minerva had disclosed some information to her. She had told her about the new positions opening up and how it looked like she was at the top of the list of contenders for one of them. Hermione had kept this information to herself not wanting to get anyone's hopes up.

As the news really sank in she became more and more excited! Just think of it, Professor Granger, head of Gryffindor House! She threw her covers back and jumped out of bed. She threw on her dressing gown and tore the door open starting to run down the hall to Harry's room. After the war ended and things had settled down more a Hermione and Harry began looking for somewhere to live. Until then they had been staying at the Burrow at the insistence of Mrs. Weasley. But they soon realized that they needed to move on. The most logical answer was Grimmald Place. Sirius had left the house to Harry and with some renovations and a new color scheme the house had become home to the two friends and their frequent visitors. Ron had opted to move in with Luna. They had started dating a few weeks after the battle to everyone's surprise. Hermione was glad that he had found someone that balanced his temper out and in turn he helped bring Luna down to earth more. She had almost been scared until they started dating that he was going to bring up the kiss they shared during the battle but they had both brushed it off at emotions in the heat of the moment.

Hermione crept into Harry's room, noticing with a devious smile that Ginny had stayed over last night. Perfect they would both hear her news that the same time. She backed up a few steps and launched herself onto the bed yelling "WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" Harry bolted up followed by Ginny and grabbed his want before he looked around groggily. Once he spotted Hermione bouncing on the end of the bed he put his wand down and frowned, "this better be good Hermione, or I'll have to get you back for this". Hermione beamed at them both and started "well I got a letter a few minutes ago…" "who sends letters this early?" Ginny interrupted. Hermione snorted and said "I was thinking the same, but anyway it was from Minerva! I got offered a position at Hogwarts!" Ginny squealed and launched herself at Hermione "congratulations Hermione!" Harry leaned forward to hug her and asked "what position?" Hermione opened the letter and waved it around "Defense Against The Dark Arts AND Head of Gryffindor House!" Harry squeezed even tighter and said "that's wonderful Hermione! You'll be great." He paused in squeezing the life out of her to ask "you are taking it right?" Before she could answer Ginny jumped in the practically yelled "of course she is!" Hermione laughed and said "yes Harry I am planning on taking it. It might be a little difficult being back at Hogwarts but teaching is something I love so I am willing to try and push past any difficulties" Ginny smiled and said "when are you going to tell everyone else?" "I was thinking tomorrow at Sunday dinner" she replied. Only a year after the war when they had lost so many things where really starting to look up.

Fred smiled as he signed his name on the parchment with a flourish, he shook the man's hand and wished him well before walking out of the shop and appariting away with a 'pop'. He landed in his shared flat and immediately went in search of George. "Forge? Are you up here?" "In the backroom Freddie!" Fred ventured into their backroom, which was strictly used for inventing, with caution. Last time he barged into the room he was rewarded with a face full of bright blue slime and was left with blue and white polka dotted skin for the week following. "We got it George! We got the Zonko's location in Hogsmead!" George turned around and Fred couldn't help but laugh. He his face was bright red and his eyebrows were missing along with his eyelashes. "Having some trouble there Georgie?" He said with a chuckle, George just laughed and said "I was trying to work out the kinks in that exploding drink mix, haven't quite worked out how to get it to stop burning off facial hair and only exploding the liquid. I guess I'll just leave it to you!" Fred grinned deviously, "oh no Georgie this was your idea and therefore is your product to develop. But back to Hogsmead, we finally can open a new location! This will be great for business with Hogwarts right there and the students coming into town every weekend." George smiled and stood up, vanishing the failed potion wandlessly with a wave of his hand. "Right you are brother, and with the flat above that shop Angie can move in here when you move in there." Fred raised his eyebrow and stated melodramatically "trying to get rid of me already you wanker?" George rolled his eyes but answered without missing a beat "duh Fred how else and I supposed to get you out? So you would live here forever an eternal bachelor if I didn't kick you out." Fred laughed and said "I don't want to be an 'eternal bachelor' I'm just waiting to find the right one. I want a smart bird, who can hold an intelligent conversation and help with the business not some bimbo who only wants to be with me because of my money." While he had been saying this George was mimicking him and finally said "yea yea Fred, I know, waiting for Mrs. Right, but you better get on it Freddie before all the good girls are gone!" He laughed and walked into the living room. "when do you want to tell the family Gred?" Fred pondered this question for a minute and said "tomorrow at Sunday dinner would probably be a good time." George nodded and sat down on the couch muttering about how to grow back his eyebrows before then as Fred went into the kitchen to start on lunch. Just as Fred was pulling leftovers from dinner last night out to heat up a tawny owl flew onto the window ledge and began taping on the window, 'tap..tap..tap..tap' Fred went to the window to let the bird in, he untied the letter from his leg and gave him an owl treat before sending him on his way back out of the window. The letter had a Hogwarts seal so he walked into the living room to show George. "Hey Forge, we've got mail from Hogwarts, do you think they are finally sending us the bill for all the damages we caused while in attendance?" he joked. George just chuckled and told him to open it. He opened the letter and read it aloud;

_Mr.'s Fred and George Weasley,_

_As Hogwarts new headmistress I have taken it upon myself to try to further the curriculum here at Hogwarts. Starting this year once a month we are opening our doors to experts on the subjects taught in school and trying to give our older students more experience and the chance to talk to people who have put their education to good use. I feel that you two are a perfect example to lead by being successful business men who have excellent charms, transfiguration, potion skills. Not to mention defense against the dark art experts having fought in the war. I am offering you the opportunity to come and work with our heads of houses to put together a once a month program for 5__th__ year and up students were they put their education to real use to practice for the real world. Please let me know if you are interested in this opportunity. _

_Sincerely Headmistress McGonagall _

Fred finished reading and looked up at George who's mouth had dropped. After a moment of silence Fred cleared his throat and broke George out of his trance, then started to smile. Fred's smile became identical "well Georgie it looks like we have more news for tomorrow!" George nodded and started to laugh "who would have thought that we would be the people she asked!" Fred nodded and said "even after all we did at Hogwarts, she still trusts us to not come in and try to corrupt them." This upcoming year was going to be an interesting one.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N So here we go with the second chapter! Hopefully you all enjoy it!

*I don't own anything Harry Potter related*

Chapter 2

Hermione had written back about the job as soon as she finished breakfast. Before lunch had even started she was looking into her lesson plans starting with the first years. They would be the easiest, she thought, the trickiest ones would be the 5th years and up, they had to suffer through the past year with a rocky education in her subject. She decided that once she got there she would talk to Minerva to get an idea of what the last known benchmark for them was, this would help her plan. If nothing else she would just have to wait until the first day and give a short examination to find a common benchmark. Just as she had finished outlining the first month for her first years she heard a knock on the door to her room. "Come in" she called out. Ginny opened the door and poked her head around "Hey Hermione it's lunch time are you coming down? I made some pasta salad." Hermione smiled and nodded, "Yes, I'll just put this away and be down." Ginny nodded and stepped further into the room, she laughed when she noticed what was on the desk, "planning lessons already Hermione?" Hermione blushed and nodded "I'm just so excited! I thought it would be helpful to start early" "of course you did, ha, but let's have a girls day so I can have some time with you before you spend the rest of the summer sucked into your lessons." Hermione pursed her lips and thought it over, she knew Ginny was right she would be busy and could very easily get pulled into her work, how bad could it be? The only thing that had the potential to be painful was if she was pulled into a hair salon, because Ginny was always plotting on trying to get her to change her hair. While she was deep in thought she didn't notice Ginny had transfigured her pajamas into regular clothes and was pulling her up with a grin on her face. "let's go eat lunch and then go, it won't be that bad!" Hermione just sighed and pushed her playfully out the door.

After the two finished lunch they apparated to Diagon Alley. Ginny turned to her and smiled slyly. "Okay, don't be mad but last week I made us both appointments at this new hair salon next to Fred and George's, I was going to drag you in anyway but now that you've gotten this new job I have a real excuse to treat you!" Hermione sighed but thought it over, having more manageable hair might make her mornings easier at Hogwarts, and she had heard many good things about this salon. "Okay fine! Let's go, before I change my mind." Ginny squealed and pulled her in the direction of the salon. When she stopped pulling Hermione found herself in front of a cute looking salon called Enchanted Rose, with a shimmering rose right above the door. Hermione pushed the door open and stepped inside, Ginny right behind her. They walked up to the check in desk and Ginny informed the smiling woman that they had appointments. The woman nodded and waved her wand, and two paper airplane memos flew to the back, not a moment later two stylists came to the front. They introduced themselves as Linda and Tara. Ginny went with Linda and Hermione followed Tara to a chair. She smiled and introduced herself. Tara shook her hand and said "Ginny told me over the phone to do whatever I thought would suit you the best but I wanted to check with you before I did anything drastic." Hermione rolled her eyes and laughed, "I guess the only thing I want to keep is the length. If you could help me get it more manageable that would be helpful too. I suppose if you wanted to change the color a bit I wouldn't be against it." She had become someone attached to her waist length hair and knew she would hate to have it too much shorter. Tara smiled and nodded then placed a black cloak around her shoulders and waved her wand at the mirror, which turned dark when she did. She then lead Hermione over to a wash station and washed her hair with a lovely smelling coconut shampoo and conditioner. When they got back to the chair Hermione has totally relaxed. Tara began trimming her ends and layering her hair all the while muttering to herself about color. When she was done she took her wand and began layering dye in her hair. Once she was done she set a time and conjured up another chair. She sat down and began to talk to Hermione about maintaining her hair. By the time the timer went off Hermione had learned quite a few helpful hair charms to make managing her hair easier. After rising out the color Tara blew her hair out and put a few permeant charms on her hair a de-frizzer, a de-tangler, and a color preservation charm. When she finally uncharmed the mirror Hermione was itching to see her hair. She gasped as she took it in, those charms had been so helpful and the layers helped her hair curl better and frame her face. What really took her by surprise was the color. Tara had changed it from a medium brown to a deep dark chocolaty brown that complemented her fair skin and brought her eyes out fabulously. Hermione blushed and turned to thank a smiling Tara profusely. Tara just smiled more and told her not to forget the charms as she walked her to the front where Ginny was waiting. Ginny squealed when she saw her walk out, "I knew a new hair style would be perfect for you!" Hermione swatted at the girl as she laughed, and after paying the two walked out. "Let's go visit Fred and George next door before we go home." Ginny suggested.

Fred was back the backroom of the shop working on restocking the nosebleed nougats when George poked his head through the door, "just a heads up Hermione and Ginny are here, they will be stopping back here in a mo." Fred nodded and waved his wand to clean up some of the random things lying around a moment before Ginny walked through the door. "What do I owe the pleasure of my little sister coming to see me?" "Just stopping by to say hello, Hermione was talking to George but she should be back in a mo, we were just having a girl's day getting our hair done and whatnot." Not a second after she finished talking Hermione stepped through the door. Fred's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he saw her, she had a pretty blush on her cheeks and her new hair cut brought out the beautiful color of her eyes. When he realized he was staring he composed himself and stuttered out "you…your new hair style looks ve..very nice" This made her blush harder and smile as she thanked him. Ginny watched the whole exchange and made a mental note to herself as she declared "alright we need to go so we can finish up our girl's day, see you tomorrow at dinner Fred" He nodded still somewhat in a trance as the girls waved goodbye. As they left he made a mental note to come back to what had just happened and why he reacted that way.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Continuing on!

*I don't own anything Harry Potter related*

As the day went on the store got incredibly busy so all thoughts of the earlier encounter with his sister and Hermione were pushed to the back of Fred's mind. He only remembered his reaction the next morning when George mentioned going to Sunday dinner in a few hours. The encounter quickly pushed its way out of the recesses of his mind to the forefront and demanded to be dealt with. Fred cleared his throat and said "hey George, did you notice anything different about Hermione yesterday?" George smiled slyly and said "why yes I did, her hair looked different". Fred nodded but continued, "No I mean like in her whole look, because when she came into the back I couldn't help but stare it even took me by surprise!" George looked a Fred for a minute and then began laughing "Oh Freddie, are you talking about the fact that our little Hermione is all grown up? She doesn't look like the typical bookworm we had grown used too. She grew up Freddie and I think it took you by surprise because you just haven't seen her recently." Fred pondered that thought for a moment and nodded "I guess you're right, I haven't really had the chance to talk to her properly for months what with her being busy at Hogwarts and us here at the store." As he thought more about Hermione he remembered the pretty blush she had on her cheeks when she walked in yesterday and how lovely her new dark hair complemented her fair skin. Then he moved on to her eyes, those deep pools of caramel brown that seemed endless. Fred was so deep in thoughts of Hermione that he didn't notice George wave his wand and a bucket of water appear over his head. He did notice however, when the bucket tipped over his head and he was dowsed in ice water. He shook his head spluttering and glared at George who looked at him innocently for a moment before laughing "you looked like you needed to be woken up Gred, over there daydreaming about our not so little bookworm". Fred blushed but didn't say anything instead opting to drop an equally cold bucket of water on George's head. He laughed and ran into the backroom before George could retaliate.

Fred had been at it for an hours already and was getting nowhere, every time he would try to fix the love potion so it would be less potent he would become distracted by a lovely coconut sent mixed with a few other things that he couldn't place and the potion would boil over. Fred made a noise of exasperation as George poked his head through the door, "any luck on that lust potion Freddie?" They were working on another form of love potion that was less potent and would create lust instead of love but modifying the potion proved to be harder than expected. Fred shook his head but neglected to mention that part of the problem was that he kept getting pulled in by the smell. George just nodded and said "well it's time to get ready for dinner, we can't be late or mum will kill us" Fred laughed and stood up vanishing the failed potion and went to his room to get cleaned up.

Hermione was standing in her underwear in front of her closet. She normally never had this problem, since when did going to Sunday dinner stump her outfit choice? Two parts of her subconscious argued with her, one saying it was because she was making a big announcement today, the other arguing more quietly that it was because of the way Fred had looked at her yesterday. She had always had a school girl's crush on his at Hogwarts and the way he was staring the other day was stuck in her mind. The rational part of her mind wanted to chalk it up to her new haircut, but the not so rational part of her mind pointed out that no one else reacted that way and wanted to turn his stare into the start of some storybook romance. Hermione shook the voices out of her head as she threw on her dressing gown and ran to the living room fire place, it was time to call in the reinforcements. She grabbed some floo powder and yelled "The Burrow" before sticking her head in, Ginny was reading in the living room when she looked around, perfect. "Hey Gin, mind stepping through for a mo? I need some help." Ginny smiled and nodded, "just gimme a minute to tell mum." Hermione nodded and pulled her head back through, a few seconds Ginny stepped through the fire place. "What's up? " she asked as they walked upstairs. When they got to her room Hermione explained that she wanted to look nice tonight for her announcement and couldn't figure out what to wear. As she explained her situation something flashed across Ginny's eyes but was gone in a millisecond. Ginny just pointed to the bed and reached into the closet. When she was done she had pulled out a backless sundress that Hermione hadn't even known she owned, it was a little short. Ginny threw the dress at her and continued to dig through her closet by the time Hermione had put the dress on Ginny had pulled a pair of low wedges out and handed them to her. "Perfect you look great! Now for a little bit of makeup." Hermione sat on the bed with her eyes closed as Ginny began waving her wand. When she opened her eyes and when to look in the mirror she had to admit she looked good. The sundress was not to short, but wasn't made for a middle aged woman either, and the wedges made her legs look endless. Ginny had just done some simple natural makeup, nothing too much. Her hair still looked great from yesterday so all she had to was pull her fingers through it. Ginny was standing behind her smiling "my work here is done" she said as she breezed through the door, calling behind her "come on Hermione we can go help mum." Hermione took one last look in the mirror and walked from the room, more excited for dinner then usual.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Hopefully everyone is enjoying my story!

*I don't own any thing Harry Potter related*

Chapter 4

Hermione stumbled out of the floo after Ginny and took a moment to brush the soot off of herself. She walked into the kitchen and greeted Mrs. Weasley with a large smile. "Hermione dear, how have you been?" "I've been great Molly, in fact I have some news to share with everyone at dinner, but in the meantime do you need any help in here?" Mrs. Weasley smiled and pushed her into the living room, "no dear, I'm almost done anyway, you can just relax." Hermione chuckled and went to sit in the living room, pulling a book from her ever present beaded bag. She settled on to the couch to get into her novel. Romeo and Juliet was one of her favorites, the mere idea that love could be that deep filled her with longing to her core. A few minutes into the first act Harry stumbled through the floo, he glanced at her and smiled "do you know where Gin is?" She nodded and sent him upstairs. She smiled softly as she saw his eyes light up and he raced up the steps to find her. That was the kind of relationship she wanted, one where no matter what time of day he would be excited to see her, even if they had just been together the night before, as she was sure Ginny and Harry had been. She settled into the couch again and got back to fair Verona. Soon the floo activated again, George stumbled through and brushed himself off before turning and smiling at her before walking to the kitchen. The floo activated again and she found herself marveling at how gracefully Fred stepped through the floo, he was one of the only people she knew who had mastered floo travel and never stumbled out of the floo. He turned to look at her and his eyes lit up, before he came to sit beside her on the couch. "Whatcha reading Hermione?" "Romeo and Juliet, it's a play by a muggle author." She then proceeded to explain the concept of the story and the writing style, then she paused, "well it might be better if I just read you some, it's hard to explain the writing without hearing it". Fred nodded and settled further into the couch as Hermione began …. "Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene…" Hermione read for 15 minutes and the whole time she felt Fred's full attention, which was surprising, she did not expect him to be interested in the story. A few pages into Romeo's first monologue Mrs. Weasley called everyone into dinner. Fred frowned and said "right when the story was getting interesting, perfect timing on um's part". Hermione smiled and said "we can continue after dinner if you want". Fred smiled and nodded before standing up and extending his hand to her and together they walked into the kitchen. They had both been so involved in the story that they didn't notice Charlie, Percy, Bill, Fleur, Ron and Luna had arrived for dinner as well. They all sat down at the extended table in the kitchen chatting with everyone, with all the hustle and bustle of saying hello to each other Fred ended up next to Charlie with Hermione across from him next to Luna.

As everyone dug into a delicious dinner made by Mrs. Weasley a quiet murmur settled over the table, and Fred found himself staring at Hermione across the table. He would just stare at her and notice all the little habits that she had acquired, the way she held her fork and used it to gesture as she spoke. The little smile she would get when she took a bit of something she really liked, it was like she had a just eaten something heavenly. Every once in a while she would catch him staring and blush, which only made him want to look at her more to watch it bloom across her cheeks. Fred felt a nudge in his side, he turned to see Charlie raise an eyebrow at him while flicking his eyes at Hermione. Fred felt his face heat up and scowled at him before casting his eyes down and getting back to his dinner. Towards the end of dinner Hermione cleared her throat and said "I have an announcement everyone". Everyone quieted down and looked at her as she said "I received a new job offer…" she began "….from Minerva, to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and the Head of Gryffindor House!" Fred's jaw dropped as everyone congratulated her. George laughed and said "well Fred and I have an announcement too, although it is not nearly as enormous as Hermione's, it is in the same vicinity, Fred and I are opening another location in Hogsmead!" Everyone clapped as the congratulations for both parties continued and dessert was served. Fred looked at Hermione across the table and said "I think I will be seeing you more then you expected, Minerva sent George and I a letter asking us to help create a monthly program for the older students to help them make practical use of their skills". Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled widely "that sounds like a fabulous idea, I look forward to seeing you both more often".

After dinner everyone milled about for a few minutes before drifting off to separate corners of the house. Fred cornered Hermione on the couch and smiled deviously, "can we continue that story now?" Hermione chuckled and scooched over on the couch to make room. They picked up the story from where they left it, Fred being sucked into the story and the melodious reading that was Hermione's voice. Soon enough they reached the second act when Hermione began yawning. Fred looked up and around and realized how late it was. He turned to look at Hermione and smiled. She was struggling to keep her eyes open. "Let me go get our coats then I'll help you home. She nodded wearily. Fred strolled into the kitchen to find George and Ginny whispering to each other. They both looked up quickly when he walked in and he suddenly had the distinct memory of being caught sneaking cookies before dinner because of their facial expressions. He ignored them and went in search of their coats. When he found them in the backroom he went back through the kitchen "I'm taking Hermione home Forge, I'll see you back at the flat." George nodded with a sneaky smile. Fred made he way back to the living room and to his surprise found one Hermione Granger dead to the world. Her head was lolled back on the couch and her breathing was deep and even. Fred looked at her for a moment, basking in the beauty that was the peaceful witch in front of him. She was like an angle. He looked at her for a little more before deciding what to do. It would have been a shame to wake her so he made the executive decision to carry her. He shrugged his coat on and threw hers over her small frame. Then her carefully picked her up, not surprised by how light her body was. Walking to the fire place he freed his hand to grab some floo powder, which he threw down whispering "Grimmald Place" and stepped into the flames whirling away. Fred was so preoccupied with not waking the witch that he didn't notice his twin and Ginny observe the whole scene from the kitchen doorway.


End file.
